Can Rangers Work as D&D Villains? 

Very excited for paladin lich. You become so devoted to your Oath that it literally prevents your demise.

Gotta learn archery before I die to be an archer skeleton instead of a skeleton with a sword in a case a necromancer revives me

One of my best villians was a Ranger Revenant that tracked the party relentlessly across an entire continent from levels 8-13 before they were finally able to figure out a way to stop him. It was so fun! I could make the whole party start to panic just by saying, "You notice that the wildlife around has gone silent."

My plot hook for this would be to have two liches that were once friends, but one was a ranger lich that eventually became a soul hound and is now hunting the other lich. Knowing he's BONED if the soul hound finds him he raises some adventurers to get items for him or otherwise further the goal of protecting himself. The idea of a powerful lich being panicked like "You don't understand, he's gonna KILL ME." makes me laugh and i think would be a funny patron.

At the rate that he is going, were gonna end up with 13 different types of lich, which somehow feels super apropriate. Now Im imagening a "councel of 13" scenario, with a organisation containing one of each type of lich working together

The Ranger and their companion having to off EACH OTHER to complete the ritual was genius.

I feel like eventually carryiog hunters would start turning to other carrion hunters. And the abominations of the ones that could not feed.

I love the idea of a carrion hunter who is a secondary villain. He kills a powerful and cherished NPC and defeats the party, abut spare them and tell them to train for the next time he meets them, ensuring he has a new target later.

"Oh guys, it's just a bear! I've got this!" *The Carrion Hunter reforming next to the bear* "RATTLE ME BONES!" *Fires 17 million arrows murdering the PC*

3 other plotlines off the top of my head: Carrion Hunter acting as a patron to farm prey for the slaughter. Carrion Hunter that intentionally tries to make Soulhounds to hunt. Carrion Hunter that is trying to kill a deity

This is actually my favorite of these so far. Imagine: The party receives a letter, asking them to slay a formidable hunter and his beast in turn for a large sum of hold and magical artifacts. However, the letter requests that if the party find the fight to be too difficult, to simply flee and they will be paid regardless. And even more confusingly, the party has no indication on who sent the letter, only being given a place to go to. Going there, they are guided by more letters, never able to put a face to the one sending them The twist? The one sending the letters is the Carrion hunter themselves. They are fully aware of how close they are to the point of no return, and are actively seeking a fight too great for them to overcome. This is partly why they ask that the party run if they can't handle it, because if the party doesn't and are killed, the Carrion Hunter will just get stronger, pushing it closer to becoming a Soulhound. Just throw on a tragic reason for the ranger to have become a Carrion Hunter and boom, a villain for your players to cry about!

Love the concept, but i feel like it's different from the other liches. Unlike the others, who could theoretically live forever, it's lifespan is always limited. And unlike the others, where lichdom is achieved through something that every character from that class gets, you're required to get a companion, which less than half of the subclasses have.

Monk lich is gonna be interesting. There is a certain real world practice (now taboo) among monasteries where you basically embalm yourself during life to achieve nirvana before dying

I kinda like the idea of the lich being unable to find a deadlier mark so it and the companion keep fighting each other... And slaying each other... And reviving next to each other... And fighting again... Kinda like the Abyss Watchers from Dark Souls 3. That's also a tragic end.

Hey! Trying to copy the exercise, I came a cross this idea for the Rogue Lich. Embracing the way of the Rogue is more than merely sticking to the shadows and backstabing; it is about knowing the true power that lies in the unknown and undetected. There are some who will dedicate their life to this thisrt for power. This life, and even more, as they start the path of becoming an Elusive. The Elusive might be the most naive and simple way to escape Death as they seek nothing else than evading the Great Equalizer itself. However, as the Reaper's knowledge is endless, the first step into becoming an Elusive is by methodically remove and destroy any trace of one's existence; one's name must be erased from family trees, debts must be settled, contracts, forged and memories... must be dealt with. One who wish to Elude Death must remove the memory of their own existence from family, friends and foes alike. And if some resort to complex magic of mind, some simply rely on gruesome knife-work... However, an Elusive's work is in constant jeopardy; with time, their spells might loose in potency and memories of them resurface in the nightmares of those who once knew the Elusive's lost identity or maybe the trail of murders they leave behind will forge them a knew identity, one of a demented shadow killing apparent innocents. These mere rumors pose a serious threat to the Elusive as they just might be enough to lead the Pale Hunter back on their trail. Worst, people tracking down these rumors might come across the Elusive's Headstone... The Elusive's Headstone can be any object which holds the one last treasure the undead holds dear: its name. Such is the curse of the Elusive: becoming so perfectly imperceptible that their own identity would slip from their mind without their Headstone, living them but a powerless shadow. It is said that one who would wish to kill an Elusive must destroy its corporeal form while knowing its true name; an ever dangerous task as knowing the name of the Elusive will inevitably set it on the adventurer's trail... A way to incorporate the Elusive in a campaign might be to simply have random quest-giver set the party on the trail of a mysterious murderer. However, as their investigation deepens they discover the undead nature of their enemy; it is only at the end of the final showdown that the quest-giver reappears in its true form: Death itself, unable by the laws that shackle it to undergo such investigation but coming in the end to collect its due... I enjoyed picturing the 'rumors' as anti-philacteries; weaknesses that the Elusive must constantly nip in the bud in fear that they end up leading to the true philactery. And, the more they kill or manipulate, the more the rumors spread... Feel free to harvest the organs of that theory to create your own Liches :D

These are always amazing, and I cant wait to see how you do the fighter. That one strikes me as one that doesn't just live on through their legend, but lives for as long as their legend is know, so they are constantly doing heroic deeds to keep their legend alive, even if they're the ones orchestrating the events that they end up saving people from.

Something that also might be cool about the carrion hunter is that perhaps in a desperate attempt to prevent it from becoming a soul hound it begins devouring as many souls as possible. It’d be a much more temporary solution, as it would be pursuing quantity over quality in terms of the souls it’s eating. Just a thought.

I'm excited to see a Monk Lich, someone who trained so hard they defeated even death. The closest thing I've seen to an actual Monk Lich in fiction so far is Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen

The idea of ranger lich immediately reminded me of Koschei the Deathless, as he is depicted in the Hellboy series. He is employed by Baba Yaga to hunt down Hellboy for vengeance purposes. Really good dark stuff! Anyway, really interesting and inspiring stuff you’re doing here!

Once we have all classes covered, we can start adding different lich flavours for each class!! This is a Journey I'm sure we don't want to be finished hahaha

I love this idea! Especially the Carrion Hunter whose companion devoured the soul of a Tarrasque. I think it'd be really cool to have the Carrion Hunter be a Drakewarden, so that when it's Drake Companion consumes the soul of the Tarrasque, and then the Carrion Hunter's soul itself, the resulting Soul Hound is some undead draconic abomination far worse than the Tarrasque ever was.

Okay, but what if the ranger feasts on its beast instead of the beast feasting on the ranger? What if the fractured soul becomes whole in the original body?

How dare you make me look at an undead, skull-faced, bear again. Like I haven't been traumatized enough by Annihilation.

I've been following your "Which Lich" series for a while now, as I love the idea of a plethora of ways to enter undeath for all eternity. Each one is incredibly well designed, so thanks for putting in all this effort to them! This idea about the companion and the ranger having to kill one another is really cool, because it also shows that the companion, a generally accepted as sentient being all on its own, agreeing to enter this effective suicide pact together only furthers the commitment to their goal. All of that said, I think this is not the most accessible way to go about a Ranger lich in 5e. Every other lich so far has been based on a core class feature that all of them share. Druids and their circle, Barbarians and rage, bards and their masterpiece (less of a class feature and more of a theme, but same diff). This only focuses on a feature that 3 out of the 8 in 5e even have. I know that in 3.5 and Pathfinder the animal companion is a core feature, but that's just not true anymore in 5e. The one thing that all rangers have, across all subclasses, and even the optional Tasha's content, is Favored Foe/Favored Enemy. Across the board, rangers have a single thing in common: If the set an enemy in their sights, it is going to die. For a lich, I think you hinted on the right direction in your introductory theory crafting, with the "enemy they can't catch/kill" idea. But I think that's not broad enough for the attempt at eternal life. Every lich is choosing to be a lich for a GRAND DESIGN, not one dude. And honestly, every lich, across all the classes, should generally be a morally ambiguous person at best, otherwise why would the players even go up against them? I think the motivation would be better if it was an anathema. As in, a particular creature type (or organization to add some alternative ideas) as the anathema, and they refuse to rest until this threat has been entirely purged. So when you mentioned that the ranger must undergo a long ritual hunting their favored foe and not coming into contact with civilization, I think you were half right. The favored foe is the most important part. All liches are embracing the darker urges of their class, and the Ranger literally has weaponized racism built into the base class (Favored Foe from Tasha's is more "screw this guy in particular", but the general vibe is whoever they're hunting, it's a problem that they chose to become undead to get rid of). Giving into that "for the greater good" or even "for my own self interest" idea is a big part of lichdom, since the entire thing is a pretty big risk. I can't think of the best phylactery right now for this version of the Carrion Hunter, other than like "the preserved remains of their greatest enemy" or some nonsense like that. But I think focusing on the favored enemy/foe leads to a situation that allows any ranger, regardless of subclass, to focus on becoming a lich. Because that's the whole point of these videos, right? You often mention "players see this and ask how do I do that?". If the requirement is an animal companion, that's a lot of players that just don't have that option without shoe-horning in an animal companion. You even said in the video that the best embodiment of the ranger is the Hunter subclass. Not the Beast Master, not the Drakewarden, not the Swamkeeper, not Gloomstalker, Horizon Walker, Fey Warden, whatever. Hunter. And the Hunter basically takes the Ranger's ability to better hunt and kill their preferred prey, and makes it better. I seriously hope this doesn't come across as saying you have bad design or anything. I've really enjoyed the stuff you come up with, and I think a lot of what you build is going so well! The reason I get really into the nitty gritty is because I'm slightly obsessive about D&D, and the closer it hits to something I think is cool, the more likely I am to get into the weeds of it. What you've provided is a whole stat-block and lore and design and all the crazy elements that go into this, and it's amazing. My comments aren't trying to say "all dumb, why do you even bother", but just that I think there's another focus that might better exemplify what we're all shooting for: A lich based around the core identity of a specific class. And if I'm being honest, I never even had the idea for a ranger lich until you brought it up. I never would have come up with ANY of the above discussion if not for listening to your video. So even though I'm being a little punk and basically dissecting your stuff, do know that what you do is absolutely integral to the homebrew world of this hobby we all share. TL;DR - I think you're on the right track, I just think there's a smoother way to go about it. Regardless of our different ideas, the stuff that you create is reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers, many of who will internalize this in some way. Your work is awesome, please keep it up.

I feel the pf2e flavor text encapsulates what a ranger is the best: "Some rangers believe civilization wears down the soul, but still needs to be protected from wild creatures. Others say nature needs to be protected from the greedy, who wish to tame its beauty and plunder its treasures. You could champion either goal, or both. You might be a scout, tracker, or hunter of fugitives or beasts, haunting the edge of civilization or exploring the wilds. You know how to live off the land and are skilled at spotting and taking down both opportune prey and hated enemies." They are: 1. good in nature or edge of society and 2. hunters/trackers who are focused on one target at a time for the most benefit that's all need to be a ranger. This also applies to 5e with their signature spell hunter's mark Jet from Cowboy Bebop is a range

I hope the next Lich we get is a Monk Lich. I need my Undead Wuxia Kung-Fu Boss

This video is PERFECT right now, you have no idea. I'm literally running a campaign where the BBEG is a dark god and his 5 generals (The Shadowfingers) that are 5 unique liches. This gives me so many good ideas for my Shadowfingers! Fantastic work.

I’m currently playing a ranger, and he’s one of the strongest non-homebrew characters I’ve ever played. He’s a hunter and communes with nature spirits a lot. His most powerful ability is that he’s the only one in the party with a gun.

For people wanting to play a Carrion ranger like this, HeartLeaf Games has a subclass called “The Carrion Ranger” which grants you necromantic abilities. I’d highly suggest it if you want to try a character like this in your games.

Ya love to see a lil guy with a bow become an immortal, god-like being.

Hear me out for the rogue lich: the Intrusive, a bodyless soul, in the shape of a shadow in the corner, that has to sustain itself by stealing the body of other creatures continously, consuming their souls in the process. As per the recipe: The characteristic of a rogue are: - Being dexterous - Being good in hiding and deception - Stealing things - Killing creatures Now, for the lich part: - The ritual: Idk, I would say stealing more and more from others, until you’re stealing their lives, then stealing their souls, then finally you steal your own from your body - The result: this creature resembles, and is inherently, the shadow of it’s former self in the most literal sense, and on rare occasions can be seen beside their original body, still untouched by time and lacking it’s shadow. In this process, the Intrusive frees himself from the shackles of it’s own body, being able to live forever…as long as they’re able to sustain their soulless body. However, in doing so, the Intrusive lost many ways of interacting with the world, being incorporeal. So it makes up for it by sneaking up on unsuspecting victims, cutting their throats in the dark, and pulling the soul from the wound. Then the Intrusive must transfer the fresh soul to their former body, keeping it pristine and frozen in time, while they can take the soulless husk left behind for themselves, to keep until, soon, it will crumble to dust, leaving again only the Intrusive behind. This way the Intrusive can assume multiple identies and infiltrate society as a faceless ghost, never to be found again. But there’s 2 ways one can spot an Intrusive: the first one is the stolen body, unless it’s fresh, the signs of crumbling can be seen by an active observer, the second one is the shadow of the stolen body, which still resembles the Intrusive and betrays it’s identity. - The aftermath: as mentioned, the intrusive needs to literally steal soul from people to survive, and gets to keep the body in return. For stats I would suggest 2 forms, both of the same creature but called in 2 ways, the Shadow and the Persona (from Youngian archetypes): - The Shadow: this form will have a trait similar to incorporeal movement, but that greatly hinders their ability to influence people as long as they’re seen. Like them being “less real”. When they’re not hidden, the Shadow has troubles moving objects and even attacking or wounding creatures, and has light sensitivity (against any bright light and even dimlight in a smaller measure, but like…really bad, like they’re stunned or banished to the shadowfell unless the light is gone). However this form cannot be slain properly unless the former body of the Intrusive is destroyed (the body also has a name: the Self). This form can fly, move through things, teletrasport in the shadows, cannot be spotted through Darkvision, good stealth and a massive bonus to stealth in obscured areas. When hidden, this form can perform a deadly attack on a creature (think about the same level as Power Word: Kill a normal Lich can use) that may outright kill them, and still has sneak attack (a strong one), then the creature can transfer itself in the body as per a Magic Jar spell, becoming: - The Persona: this form is actually quite frail, stronger than normal people but still not much of a threat (unless the host was stronger, in that case it takes over the stats of the host), but can pass amazingly for a normal humanoid and is perfect to achieve the Intrusive’s goals in a society. The Intrusive gets bonus to deception and a massive bonus when it comes to impersonating the host, retains some of it’s roguish abilities (still good stealth, sneak attack, but not much else and not to the extent of the Shadow) but not much else, and can freely interact with the world and walk in the light.

As usual, you don't miss. I think you hit the nail on the head as to the core of the Ranger class. The Carrion Hunter is a fantastic concept, though I am a bit disappointed that the companion's "increasing power" only comes down to being a bigger damage sponge, but I realize anything more complicated would be difficult to adjudicate. It would also be cool to see alternate Carrion Companions to represent other subclasses; a Swarmkeeper with a horde of skeletal rats, for example. It would be tough to figure out how to express the non-pet archetypes with a companion, though.

Let’s go rangers! I can’t wait until all the classes are covered

I know this isn’t what you went with the “hunting progressively more dangerous targets” part. But I’m already imagining using this as the main villain for a campaign based on “The Most Dangerous Game”.

Most important factor of all rangers is self sufficiency. They are a fighter/rogue/Druid In other words, Damage, Utility, *and* Healing all rolled into one Half functional amalgam. You can skip nature. 2:45 Choose urban as your favored terrain and two humanoids as your favored enemy and now you are a combination investigator/assassin with incredible street smarts who might never have seen more than two plants in the same place. Survival is accurate. 3:02 Within their area of specialty they should know how to find food and shelter, how to avoid danger, how to defend themselves, and how to recover when wounded. Even Dexterity isn't crucial. 3:13 Climbing is tied to strength. So is jumping. You could take hints from barbarians and focus on being tough and enduring. A Wildman who knows the lands, hunts with thrown weapons and can survive frost or arrows would be a very cool low Dexterity Ranger

Looking forward to the Cleric Lich. Very interested how the religious tones are going to fit in with the class!

the adventure time lich might be my favorite lich outside of D&D. something about them just always manages to impress

Okay, this is the best instance of "multiple mementos" I've seen you done. Having just two, and both of which are the corresponding lich is thematically great, as well as mechanically reasonable! I believe this is your best Lich yet!

I think key to the Carrion Hunter is the hatred of a ranger for their favored enemy. They would do anything to destroy their favored enemy, and that poisonous hatred is what twists a ranger into walking the path of the Carrion Hunter. The favored enemy can be evil and threatening and deserve that hatred, but to decide to hunt anything beyond all reason is a betrayal of the natural order.

as somebody had mentioned about the Paladin Lich, I would like to suggest some inspiration and ideas: 1. Paladin Lich - Ungodly King Paladin is about all of their vows. The phylactery will be their vows that becomes a philosophy. And they will impart that philosophy to anyone, and even an entire nation, and as long as the entire nation living with that philosophy, the Ungodly King can never be slain. Also, the Ungodly King needs to keep the nation's population growing, ensuring their militia power so that it can't be raided by another nation, and of course, running a school that will ingrain their philosophy to the newer generation so that they can still un-living. (can be cool for dystopian settings) This could lead to a combat resolution that use a non-combat approach, as slaying an entire nation can be an impossible feat and for those who hold the Ungodly King's philosophy will be granted a half power of the Ungodly King himself, turning even a civilian to have a prowess of a combatant. 2. Monk Lich - Undying True Monarch For Monks, I heavily drew inspiration from Wuxia stories, where every martial arts practitioner have some kind of path to cultivate their martial arts. I think this cultivation itself could be somewhat akin to a ritual. They trained to reach the perfection, the pinnacle of their chosen way. But then, they realize that, there is another realm beyond the perfection itself, the true realm. The true ascension will be reach when they can perfected their soul and body being merged with their cultivation itself. (actually, splitting souls and having some kind of phylactery is kinda common in wuxia stories) I kinda envision that this Undying True Monarch is a path of grinding, where they finally built a sect, and then train many disciples. And when those disciples had reach perfection, then they will merge their core together to attained the realm of enlightenment or something. Honestly, idk how to beat this Lich, unless if I bring another Undying True Monarch since they will be on par and we will have showdown of the peak of martial arts. 3. Cleric Lich - Angels of Martyr I don't know if cleric can become a lich since it may clash with their god's will, unless they are worshipping an undead god. But then the only way that I can propose for a cleric that can be the unliving regardless their god is by becoming a martyr. Yes, they will choose to die to protect what will make them live: their devotion / faith. But then this is maybe not a common ritual and more like a blessing, since when their god seeing this, their God then will turn their soul, transcend it to one of their "angels". These angels then can build a religion, spreading their faith and using themselves as the living proof of their God's miracle. Their only mind is to praise and sing their god's name far and wide and converts everyone in the world to be the believers. More believer = more faith = more power to their god = more power to the angels. I think one way to beat the angels is to "nerf" them. Drag the angels to another realm or even to other God's domain. By being there will weaken their bonds with their god, and beat the angel till they feel hopeless that their God can not save them.

Goblin Slayer as a Carrion Hunter Lich is definitely something i didnt expect. Also instantly adding it to my setting.

YOOO the split phylactery is SOO SICK!!! It's literally (what is known in the mmo terms) A council fight when you fight them, that's SUCH A COOL IDEA!!! This is absolutely fantastic!!

I have an idea to use this as a fake villain in my campaign, as liches are often evil, but instead having their new marks always be evildoers. The bond with nature that still resides with them after undeath, allows their lich essence to direct their attacks to those who corrupt nature. As a pair that hunts and gorges on all beings, including humanoids, they are feared. But, until their goal to wipe out those who destroyed [some place or group that I haven't decided yet] is complete, the hunt must go on. EDIT: Additional idea. Knowing the 2 fates of the carrion lich, this vigilante decides to duel their companion as the last mark. Just as it led to undeath, killing each other leads to true death, as both phylacteries are destroyed simultaneously.

1) Though a lot of games plunk the Archer as a subset of what a Ranger is, this is generally a disservice, as the Archer should be its own thing. 1A) This is also true of the hunter concept, which may variable contain or not contain Archer, but only has incidental overlap with the Ranger, insofar as anyone living in the wilderness must hunt, but someone who bills himself as a hunter is unlikely to be a ranger, even though these classes are wildly conflated and have significant overlap. 2) In the most historical sense, a ranger is someone who takes care of a particular stretch of wilderness or semi-wilderness, engaging in a bit of forestry and animal population care (both caring and culling). Why they are taking care of this area will have a large effect on what they do. If you're caring for the King's Forest, you're probably looking out for traps and poachers. If you're guarding the Troll Downs to protect a nearby town, you're probably going around killing monsters. In a fantasy medieval setting, this will necessarily entail various wilderness survival mechanisms, knowledge of plants and animals (and often keeping some as assistants) and monsters, and some amount of combat/hunting skills. A main thing though, is that they are typically attached to a particular piece of land for much of their career, contrasting to just endless wandering about everywhere. 3) everything else is optional. Some of the common things (such as beastmaster) are somewhat logical extensions, BUT Beastmaster is also its own concept, which may be attached to a ranger, or some other kind of class (e.g. a circus performer, dragon rider, horse breeder). Gloomstalker and Horizon Walker don't really conceptually belong to the Ranger class, other than if you're shoehorning Hunter into it, as they are variations on hunters.

The Ritual for the Carrion Hunter can be a testament to the bond between the ranger and their companion if their souls are merged as one and they share the bodies, or a testament to the evil that comes with lichdom if the ranger’s soul inhabits both as they essentially betray their closest companion and inhabit their corpse. Interesting variety for different uses of this lich. Excellent work as always Pointy Hat keep it up!

Yeah, this inspired me so much for my next game. Gives me real "Folk Horror" vibes. I'm combining this with the Van Richten Guide to Ravenloft "Genres of Horror" section to write my Rangers subplot.

An interesting variation - the swarm keeper lich. Choose to be consumed by their swarm. The swarm grows with a human intelligence and seeks to dominate the territory around it. The urge to hunt is transferred to the swarm which grows and grows conquering more and more territory. Growing larger and more powerful forever.

Your Ranger lich is fascinating! Binding it to a familiar really helps with the "nature" lore and, to be frank, their whole class identity, as you pointed out in your other Ranger video. As an NPC, their is loads of opportunity: as an enemy, as an ally, as a character of legend.

Honestly, the idea of a fighter lich is something I’m super interested in. Especially if you take into account the idea that certain fighting styles have an unbroken chain of masters(mostly from the eastern countries). It would have to work similar to the sorcerer lich, but add in some starwars sith. The lich lives on by training their next body. The way they pass on and get a new body is they are slain by their pupil with a special blade that acts as their phylactery. This also gets a bit of flavor of hex blade, but I feel like it must happen that way.

and yet another thing, you should compile these into a book or something seriously, i would love to have all your liches in one place i can read them in, after this series is complete of course

Very juicy. Nevertheless … a tangent towards the Wild Hunt myth would have been great as well. Imagine a Ranger Lich leading a spectral army of former prey to haunt the lands. Would be a neat villain IMO.

I've been working on a few options for the lich on my own time, because I really love this series; one of the things I've settled on (because I like both liches that are forced to keep interacting, and also liches that can just eff off and leave the mortal realm forever if they want) is that there's actually two base types of Lichdom Ritual. Type one is the version you bring up repeatedly - must keep harnessing new souls to keep their own intact, in some way/shape/form; they have a simpler, easier ritual with very little initial cost in terms of sacrifices to it, though it's still very complex and dangerous magic to attempt. Type two lichdom, however, requires an immense amount of work, putting a truly colossal amount of sacrifices into it - easily millions, or even billions of souls being sacrificed all at once to properly stabilize the Phylactery with a sort of artificially-induced divinity. Obviously, this means an entire plane or near to it would need to be sacrificed all at once, and the additional requirements for the ritual are truly insane on their own, but it makes for an excellent 'super-bbeg' for epic level campaigns, or as the end goal of the current BBEG to let them basically try to replace Vecna as the new god-lich.

Anything can be villain if it has a reason and the means to do so

Now I really want to hear the Monk Litch and I think the best way to do this is get the Taraque on it's last legs with the Carrorn hunter and then betray the hunter before the Kaiju is dead. Ohh man I get that Rangers are not pirates so there might be a better class for an undead Litch Piraite captain but it would be badass.

I already posted this on the previous video but here it goes again: A draugr is a fighter that, for one reason or another, decided to become immortal. In order to achieve this they learned, either by reading ancient manuscripts or from another draugr, how to imbue pieces of their soul into their attacks. Every time a draugr fights they attack not just the body but also the spirit of their opponent, slowly weakening their soul until it can be consumed to repair the draugr's faulty one. If, however, the opponent is considered to be of sufficient skill, the draugr will instead place a fragment of their soul into the opponent's so that they become a new phylactery. In the event of their 'death' the draugr will take over (similar to the scourge) and inherit the talent of the vessel (similar to the patriarch lich) A powerful draugr wanders from land to land in his search for worthy vessels. They may lead armies, go on adventures, sell themselves to coliseums or even open their own fighting schools in this search! I think this is a good way to implement the whole "fighting spirit" vibe that the fighter has since it makes every duel with them a literal tests of wills over who has the stronger soul.

This is my favorite concept of a lich. Also the legend of the carrion hunter is legitimately one of the most tragic things I've ever heard in D&D. Well done.

15:19 Only Wizard to ever take bestow curse instead of fireball 💀

This is definitely your coolest Lich as it isn’t “evil”, but gluttonous.

If this isn't on par with the Hierarch it is better than the Hierarch, this is probably the coolest style of lich you've given us, I've used the Necromaton for a one shot but I'm looking to use probably a different one for my bbeg next campaign, so keep them coming, I think this one is gonna be it unless you top it in the future

That frontal shot of the ranger and bear skulls is pure awesomeness.

im exited for the cleric lich, the idea of a holy person kept alive as an undead is such a cool contrast. And there is so much to do with it, like tying its un-life to its religion

I love the idea of the Carrion Hunter talking to himself in much the same way you'd talk to an animal companion but in this instance because he can sense/hear the thoughts/feelings of their companion in their head. Hushing the beast to try and calm it because he knows the beast's hunger is rising, or arguing with it about the best course of action. All stuff he could be mumbling beneath his breath, almost like he's unaware that he's voicing his thoughts, since the beast would be just as capable of sensing the hunter's thoughts as the hunter is of sensing it's.

The sheer amount of effort and love that is so visable to the audeience throughout the entire video is so incredibly appreciated, from the easy to follow steps in design, to the incredible art, it is so evidentally clear that pointy hat is far mine (and hopefully everyone elses) favourite D&D youtuber, nay favourite youtuber period.

Really cool! Love it! Only thing I'd change is that it doesn't HAS to hunt always bigger creatures to fill the phylactery, just hunting SOMETHING is sufficient therefore, but it still WANTS to hunt always bigger things and becoming a Soulhound only if it doesn't hunt anything for to long. By this, the Carrion Hunter is not limited in it's liftime, which would oppose the whole Lich-concept.

I love this lich, I love all the liches created here, and I love future possible concepts for liches. I think a Fighter lich is one I’m really interested in, as It gives me the concept of a lich who’s soul is tied to their weapon.

Eh for me I was thinking more of a Wild Hunt situation. Where the lich's phylactory is a bunch of animals in a flying stampede to hunt more souls for its sport.

When you mentioned the Carrion Hunter, I was immediately reminded of the Carrion Master from Delver's Guide to Beast World! Honestly, I feel like the Carrion Hunter would be my character's endgoal as a True Neutral Vulpine Gunslinger Fighter/Carrion Master Ranger!

Its super exited to see another one of these😍😍😍😍 Im kinda hopeing that when all the classes are eventually covered, Antonio ends up makeing a poster showing the class and its lich counterpart, with text showing all the key bullet points for each lich types. Or...better yet....a lich book😍😍😍.

I've always associated Druid with being a pet class, but that might just be their great summoning magic and my own habit of gravitating towards minion mastery things.

I really like how viable this would be as an Ally! Mid Adventure one spots you, and opts to let you live, as you find out you're hunting the same monster. Encounter them a few times on your quest, but upon killing the Monster, your party becomes the next target, and you must reluctantly fight the Ally you've grown to rely on. That's sad. I love it!

Wholly Moly, I am sooo glad you posted a new video today. I had one tryingly oppressive day, and tomorrow looks like more of the same. Bright colors, pretty pictures, cool ideas and thinking about people cooperating, being nice to each other and having fun is EXACTLY what I need. Thank You Thank You Thank You

There's like a handful of channels that when posting a new video cause me to say, either in my head or out loud, "OOH!" This is one of them. These videos are like always filled with great ideas, great humor, and great production.

Rouge liche is gonna be lit! Determined to be in the shadows of kingdoms or guilds pulling strings for centuries. Also, love the video! You're amazing as always!

That promise to end themself if they can't find a strong enough soul made me realise that, obviously, you're gonna be doing a lich Paladin, and now I'm very excited to see how you make that work.

Easily my favorite series on this channel, and seeing new liches always makes my week better.

it would have been very cool to go the "Immortal Snail" route for ranger lichdom. You phylactery is always on the move to kill you, and therefor itself. Forcing you to never settle down for long. The hunter becomes the hunted as a price for immortality.

Oh hell yeah!! Can't wait for the Monk lich 😂

Oh this is a good one. Can cause so much drama. Having the animal companion be a part of the lich is great, and given anyone can form a bond with a pet any ranger can do it. As you explained that all I could think of is a ranger that goes off, abandoning their companion to bond with another to save them from lichdom. Only then do they return, the hunger has them, and they feed on them to empower their new undead companion.

i love subverting expectations with my very experienced group and doing so with lichs is just so many chef kisses. i had already integrated a Figure Head and a Blight into my campaign but now i'm integrating the carrion hunter as an enemy of the blight and putting my players in a postiotion to choose a side between one undead and another.

Love these. I'm definitely going to use the sorcerer one. Also, I can't wait to see you make ranger useful.

What’s next? Warlock + Lich? Fighter + Lich? Rouge + Lich?

Currently playing a non-spellcasting Ranger in a Pathfinder campaign, and I think you've nailed the essence of a Ranger here. Nature, survival, dexterous sums it up. Mine has an animal companion, but it's not a core trait. It's his horse and everyone in the campaign has horses. My guy is not the best at ranged damage, our sorcerer is. He's not the best tank, our fighter is. He's not a great healer, our cleric is. He's not the stealthiest or most nimble, our rogue is. BUT...he can step in and fill any of those roles as the b-team. I love playing a jack-of-all-trades.

I didn't think you were gonna be able to tie it, together marrying the Lich and Ranger together, but you did it! I always watch till the end of your videos to get my kissy :3

Love this series! Can’t wait to see what you do with the wizard!

My dumbass misread this as "Can Power Rangers" be villains and bow im imagining a group of Super Sentai Necromancers *writes that down for a later campaign*

Oof! That's a good idea! Really poetically designed too. I'm welling up with emotion, my dude. And it was just meant to be a character concept video! Beautiful!

I love this series. In the past I've come up with a few other classes becoming Liches as well. Good to see you expanding on it

Omg I've been waiting for this for so long!! Ranger is my favorite class, and I've been stoked for the Which Lich, especially because of how awesome you did the Druid. You outdid yourself, Pointy Hat. :)

The big tragedy of ranger is theyre actually 2 classes the D&D ranger and the WoW Hunter meaning most of their problems could be solved by splitting them into 2 classes.

Video: They are each other's phylactery. Me: Agh! Why didn't I think of that first?

May i cast my vote for a Warlock Lich? I know it'll be complicated due to the pact but they're my favorite class.

Love the ranger class. So glad you feature it and make it better. Love to see it getting some love ❤

Me halfway through the video: yeah but what if you were to fuse with your companion? Me two minutes later: hell yeah

That was Cool! To me, The best example of what Ranger should be was the WOW Hunter, Focusing on Hunting companions, Ranged weaponry, and Ambushes/Traps/Stealth, Diving deep into the Most hostile environments to bring down impossibly dangerous prey.

Still waiting for a paladin lich. Here’s to hoping

First off: I do not see any link to the Carrion Hunter in the description. Second off: I have a few questions about the ritual. You say that they cannot come into contact with civilization, not even other people, but they must also hunt their favoured prey during this ritual. Do you count it as coming into contact, if your favourite prey is a type of people? While you generally can't pick humanoid as favoured prey, you can pick a category of humanoid, so orc, tiefling, goblin and straight up humans are fair game for favoured prey, but would that just make it directly impossible to become the Carrion Hunter? And since DnD have a handful of creatures that lie all over in the spectrum of monstrous, primitive and/or rare, where would you draw the line of something being civilization, and when would the people be civilized enough for the would-be Carrion Hunter to need to stay away? I realize some of this could easily be up to DM's discretion, but I wanted to hear your opinion, if you had thought about it.

I want to thank you so much for making these i feel like they add so much to the game and I plan on creating a campaign based around the different liches that you have created trying to become gods. Thank youuu!!!

I watch a lot of dnd videos, the lore on this in chapter 5 is some of the best ive seen, absolutly awesome work

Is the link for the statblock not working for anyone else? ive tried on multiple different devices and theres just no link there

So basically lich version of a Ranger is a murder hobo.